I rarely see any vehicles parked nearby that would suggest any work is being done. But I know the building has underground parking and that could easily be how a small, slow moving team can operate unseen.

Asbestos abatement is by default a slow moving process. It cannot really be disturbed and has to be dealt with very carefully.

A few random shots of downtown this weekend, I like the old/new building contrasts.

https://i.imgur.com/eEf0AhI.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/sbwDtOL.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/Wd0eIOx.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/EROK5qS.jpeg

This really needs to be turned into a cool small music venue. Charley Levy make it happen!

It was, I even saw a band in there before Covid in fall of 2019, they had started the renovations but it seems like the project fell apart during 2020. One of the few casualties Phoenix actually suffered due to lockdowns and Covid

This is the part I don't understand about the preservationists. All this energy to save an ugly old building that no one has cared for in years. The only reason it's on any list is because it is old. And often it's completely unreasonable to fix it.

And then we have really cool old dilapidated buildings like this one and the effort to do something about it seems really haphazard and reliant on individual heroes. Where's the collective effort? The big fundraiser to fix it? Lobbying the city to dedicate funds to incentivize it? Nahh instead we'll just harass builders and developers because that's easy and free.

I think you're talking about two different scenarios.

Demolition proposals are emergency situations that bring people out of the woodwork--once it's gone, its gone. When there's a rezoning attached to it or even subsidies on the table, I think people have every right to comment.

This building has been somewhat stabilized and doesn't have an absentee landlord. It's saved--for now--but not preserved. Every case is different. The nonprofit that owns this building obviously wants to see it preserved, but a private developer could be ambivalent or nonchalant.

I get it. I just wish some of the energy could be redirected towards stuff that would actually preserve cool buildings.

Anyone in this community is going to be long on talk and short on money which belies the fact that there's this unspoken audacity where we tell people what people can and can't do with their money when it comes up

The problem is bringing a building up to code is so stupidly expensive is it's beyond the scope of pretty much anyone but rich investors who are few and far between; It was a herculean community effort to get that tiny little Wurth House moved across Roosevelt and preserved, I could only imagine what future-proofing the church would cost.

I thought that church was already basically preserved via Goddard and his group.

It is preserved but they were going to update it and make it a park/venue with even some restaurant space but that all seems to have died with covid now its just back to being empty

Goddard has a history of talking and then getting nothing done so I am not surprised (insert smug look here).

I suppose it couldn't get in worse shape, the north wall had been propped up for decades and I suppose they fixed that.

Although if the building remains vacant and disused it could just burn again from some transient, especially the west and east sides that appear to be in good shape.

That's not very charitable. At least Goddard was trying. That's more than most have done.

I'm not in the business of charity, just facts.

1st and Pierce
 

Pre-App for 1st and Pierce. This one was originally a possible 402' tower. The new proposal is down to 381' 6". This still puts it on par with 44 Monroe, so I'll take it. Nice that we're steadily seeing taller developments getting proposed.

View documents on my Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...usp=share_link


West and South Elevations:
https://i.imgur.com/Df2Y2J9.png


East and North Elevations:
https://i.imgur.com/SYQm0hS.png

That's going to look amazing in that area, I really like the height but my inner OCD is getting me by the height not being 400 feet tall but it's really close!

This has nothing to do with demand leading to height.

The zoning in a lot of the periphery of the core parcels has density restrictions and needs to be spot zoned around, the above proposal is one of those the lots that doesn't have those same restrictions.

The periphery needs to get the old zoning boys to write a text amendment to the Code and it's killing what developers need. We'd have probably seen a lot more towers pencil out and get built without the moronic zoning downtown.

It's the most frustrating and stupid thing made worse by the fact the Urban Form zoning was supposed to be an improvement over the Euclidean zoning before and has proven quite the opposite for large projects.

I definitely can tell a lot of us on here are frustrated with the lack of height and density due to the current zoning regulations, do you think the city will ever do anything to either amend the zoning or at very least update it?

01.19.23
 

Excuse the cruddy quality :D

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d46d0a10_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b241b89e_c.jpg

Nice views!